2 York Region hospitals to receive some of Alectra's 16,800 donated N95 masks

Markham Stouffville Hospital, Mackenzie Health each getting masks for health-care workers battling coronavirus outbreak

Yorkregion.com
April 9, 2020
Dina Al-Shibeeb

Alectra is donating 16,800 N95 particulate respirator masks to seven hospitals across their service territory. - Alectra Utilities photo

Alectra Utilities --owned by seven municipalities, including Vaughan --announced Tuesday, April 7 it will be donating 16,800 N95 masks to seven hospitals.

Vaughan Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua told Yorkregion.com that two local hospitals in York Region who will be among the recipients: Markham Stouffville Hospital and Vaughan’s Mackenzie Health hospital.

“I am proud to bring to your attention that our partner @alectranews is providing 16,800 N95 particulate respirator masks to seven hospitals across their service territory,” Bevilacqua tweeted Tuesday. “Alectra’s spirit of generosity is helping our front-line workers and keeping our communities safe.”

The other five hospitals include Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre in Barrie, Guelph General Hospital, Hamilton Health Sciences, Trillium Health Partners (Mississauga), and Greater Niagara General Hospital.

“Fortunately, we have N95 masks available for the critical health-care professionals who need them now. These workers are on the front lines and we value the effort and sacrifices they are making. We will continue to support them in any way that we can,” said Brian Bentz, president and CEO, Alectra Inc. in a statement Tuesday.

Alectra will also maintain an adequate inventory of N95 masks for its employees who require them when working on the electricity distribution grid, the company said. It also said that Alectra has scaled back its operations and will primarily respond to power outages and emergencies on its distribution system, as well as maintain its call centre operations.

The news comes after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Tuesday that nearly 5,000 Canadian companies have offered their expertise and capacity to bring about made-in-Canada protective gear and medical equipment in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

As well, Premier Doug Ford said Tuesday that he visited a Woodbridge manufacturing facility to receive the province’s first batch of personal protective equipment.

Woodbridge together with the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association has been working at an “unprecedented pace to retool their factories,” Ford said, to “get the required approvals to manufacture masks for our front-line workers.”

“I was thrilled to see firsthand the fruition of their hard work and look forward to them ramping up production in the coming days to meet the demands of Ontario and soon other parts of the country.”